Premiership Countdown: 21 Days to Go

The number of authentic football stadiums in England is sadly dwindling. Gone are historic, but antiquated, stadiums such as Arsenal’s Highbury, Man City’s Maine Road, Bolton’s Baseball Ground, Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park and others.

And now, it seems, that another legendary stadium could be on its way out. This time, it’s the majestic White Hart Lane, home of Tottenham Hotspur.

According to an article in The Guardian newspaper, Spurs are seriously considering moving to London’s Olympic Stadium, which is being built for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. In many ways, though, Spurs would be daft not to consider the move. The club will find it easier to move to a new home than to try to renovate White Hart Lane.

The move, though, would seriously depress many Spurs fans and football stadium lovers. White Hart Lane has been the home of Spurs since 1899. However the capacity of 36,240 prevents Spurs from competing in terms of ticket revenue with Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium (60,000 capacity) and Man United’s Old Trafford (76,000 capacity).

If White Hart Lane does disappear, there’ll only be a few Premiership grounds left that are the older style with their own character that has graced the English game for so long. They include Everton’s Goodison Park, Liverpool’s Anfield, Portsmouth’s Fratton Park and Fulham’s Craven Cottage. I don’t include in this list the following grounds, since they’ve been renovated so much that they’re more modern nowadays: Old Trafford, Villa Park, Stamford Bridge, St James’s Park, and Boleyn Ground. That said, at the end of the day, White Hart Lane itself is pretty modern after some of the redevelopment in the 80s and 90s.

About The Author

Publisher of World Soccer Talk, Christopher Harris founded the site in 2005. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Guardian and several other publications. Plus he has made appearances on NPR, BBC World, CBC, BBC Five Live, talkSPORT and beIN SPORT.
Harris, who was born and raised in Wales, has lived in Florida since 1984, and supported Swansea City since 1979. Last but not least, he got engaged during half-time of a MLS game.

2 Comments

StevieGisGODJuly 29, 2006

I hear ya Gaffer. As an avid Liverpool fan and an American the talk of building a new stadium at Stanley Park and moving away from Anfield scares me. I may never get a chance to see my beloved Reds in their stadium. I may never get to sit at the KOP end…I guess I better start saving up and get my butt over there!

By the way, one of your previous blogs talked about Setanta showing preseason friendlies involving Liverpool. Do you know how I can get Setanta?